Employment Law Optimism to start your week.
Happy Monday! Here are some positive and interesting things in the employment world from last week:
The five main actors in the hit show, “The Big Bang Theory,” have all agreed to take a pay cut so two of its female cast members–Mayim Bialik (who plays Amy) and Melissa Rauch (who plays Bernadette)–can get raises. Now that deserves a “Bazinga!
The Missouri Supreme Court said that St. Louis can raise its minimum wage! Currently, the state’s minimum wage is $7.70, but now, the St. Louis ordinance that sought to raise its minimum wage to $10/hour in 2017 will go into effect. This ordinance hopes to increase the minimum wage to $11/hour by 2018. This is a big win for St. Louis employees.
Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, sent out letters to several job-search websites, including CareerBuilder, Indeed, and Beyond.com, warning them that their search engines may be engaging in age discrimination. According to the Attorney General, these engines have certain functions that prevent older people from making an accurate resume or profile. Since many people are still working well into their 60s, 70s or even 80s, combating this type of discrimination is very important. If these engines are engaging in age discrimination, we are hopeful that they will work with the Attorney General’s office to fix these issues promptly.
Lastly, for an excellent example of how to implement and maintain a company-wide work-life balance, look no further than Patagonia. The outdoor retail giant has an on-site childcare facility in Ventura, California where employees can bring their kids, newborn to age 9, to work. The Center not only provides kids with loads of fun activities, including after school programs and summer camp adventures, but also pays for a a childcare professional to travel with nursing parents who are working out of town. Providing this service has even allowed more women to hold higher-level positions in the company (Bonus: the company estimates that it has recouped 91% of its 1 million dollar childcare costs). Great job Patagonia! Hopefully we’ll see more companies working to implement programs like this.
There you have it: four Good Things for employees. As always, if there is anything you would like to see added to next week’s post, please comment or email us directly!
